A Coming Of Age

Secretariat was a Cadillac in a traffic jam of Chevrolets and Datsuns. But Lucien Laurin, watching the break from the side, had missed the crunch at the start. He was astounded. The red horse had always broken well in his morning trials, not slowly, like this, and then foundering. As the field made the bend for the straight, passing the [5/16]th pole, Count Successor was in the lead, Knightly Dawn beside him, Master Achiever third, and Herbull on the outside fourth. The pace was brisk for 2-year-olds, and Secretariat was about 10 lengths behind. As they came into the stretch, it appeared for a moment as though Feliciano were going to swing the colt to the outside. But, almost running up on other horses' heels, the jockey had to check him abruptly. Nearing the [3/16]th pole, Secretariat suddenly veered on a sharp diagonal to the left, lunging for space as it opened on the rail, and took off. He was a youngster looking for spots, looking and moving for running room. Daylight in front of him, horses on the outside of the rail, Feliciano drove Secretariat down the lane. He was not riding a quitter. Secretariat, gaining, passed a tiring Knightly Dawn, and then Jacques Who. He was gathering momentum, picking up speed, cutting into Master Achiever's lead in bounds—eight lengths, to seven and then to six as Master Achiever raced for the wire. He cut the lead to five lengths, then to 4�, then to four as he passed the 16th pole. He was in the hunt and Feliciano was asking him for more steam, reaching back and strapping him once right-handed.

A small hole opened between Master Achiever and the rail, and Feliciano drove the colt toward it. With ground running out, Secretariat was now running faster than all the others, cutting the lead to three lengths, to two lengths as the wire loomed, then to a length and a half. Suddenly the hole on the rail closed as Master Achiever came over, and as the wire swept overhead Feliciano had to stand up and take Secretariat back to prevent him from running up Master Achiever's heels. He had closed about eight lengths on the leaders in a powerful run through the stretch, but he finished fourth, a length and a quarter behind Herbull, to earn $480, his first purse. "He gave me three runs that day! Three!" Feliciano said later. But as he crossed the finish line the first thought that came to Paul's mind was, "Boy, I'm going to catch hell."

Down in the box seats, Penny Tweedy smiled as she saw the colt race under the wire—she, too, was unaware of the collision—and turned and told Lucien, "Gee, that's pretty good for a first start."

Laurin jumped from his chair in the box, kicked it and growled, "He should never have been beaten!" His reaction startled Penny. Lucien had told her only that he thought she ought to be there for the colt's first start, not that he was so certain the colt would win. There had been nothing of the sort, only that his workouts had impressed the trainer and that he appeared to be coming along.

Feliciano pulled the colt to a halt at the bend, turned him around, clucked to him and galloped slowly back to the unsaddling area by the paddock scale, where jockeys weigh in after a race. As he returned he looked over his left shoulder toward the paddock and saw precisely what he expected to see: Lucien standing there waiting for him.

Paul climbed down from Secretariat, thinking what he would say to Lucien, preparing himself. All he could do, he thought, was tell the truth.

Feliciano weighed in, handed the saddle and pads to a valet and went to Lucien, who waved a scolding finger in Paul's face. "You sure as hell messed that one up!" he said. Feliciano would recall later that Laurin was yelling loudly and that it was embarrassing, with all those people standing around. He said, "I'm sorry, Mr. Laurin...I had all sorts of trouble."

Later that day, when Feliciano walked into the paddock to ride another horse for Laurin, he saw the trainer smiling at him. Quietly, Lucien apologized, saying he had seen the films. He hadn't known about the battering Feliciano and Secretariat had taken at the start, he said.

Even so, it surprised Paul when he picked up a list of entries days later and saw, for the fourth race on July 15, a three-quarter-mile sprint for colts and geldings: "Secretariat...Feliciano, P."

Handicapper Jules Schanzer said of Secretariat on July 15 in the Daily Racing Form , "Secretariat turned in a remarkable performance after being badly sloughed at the start of his rough recent preview. The half-brother to Sir Gaylord turned on full steam after settling into his best stride and was devouring ground rapidly through the stretch run. Today's added distance is a plus factor that can help him leave the maiden ranks." Nor did the bettors abandon Secretariat, sending him off as the $1.30-to-$1 favorite over Master Achiever.